The great American experiment has a wide range of experiences, but it tends to focus on the coasts. There are countless dystopian pieces of art, often culling from a Warriors-esque concept of urban grit. Chat Pile play dystopian, brutal noise-punk, but from a distinctly middle American point of view where instead of civilians shadowed under dense skylines, their anonymity instead lies in the vastness of the land around them.
I think of the band as a mood. It’s pummeling, but simultaneously hopeless. There are angry death growls and spoken word lyrics. It’s a tight concept, but it still sounds diverse. And that’s a hell of an accomplishment when you play in the noise-rock wavelength, which often tends to suffer from too much samey-ness in this humble writer’s opinion.
Cool World is the second LP from the Oklahoma City band, and it advances the band’s scope well. While some of the songs embody being emotionally lost, such as “Tape,” the majority feel abused, pained and angry. Instead of the punk rock fight-back song, Chat Pile captures a moment of bleak turmoil like a faded, grainy polaroid. As I said earlier, this is morose stuff, yet the music itself is depressingly dark. Despite its title, “Shame” has some subtle glimmers of light with brighter guitar tones that contrast with the drawled vocals, and “Funny Man” incorporates some post-punk angular guitar that offers a respite, though not a full change of mood. “No Way Out” balances a heavy beat with anxious guitar and a pointed, staccato. The song moves back and forth, up and down, but it never hits catharsis. Most records will give you that big final moment before the lights go out. Fittingly, Cool World just sort of…ends. There is no resolution, just ongoing dread. There is no way out.
